v Millwall (h) - 5/3/24

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Szmodics....the shining light,the only one you feel gives a fook in what could be a truly disastrous season for this Club.

 

Edited March 6 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[cesus]

32 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I am probably the only one seeing any positives from last night. Millwall had come to put 11 players behind the ball - they rarely threatened apart from set pieces - a perfect match for Rovers to lose to a sucker punch. But we didn't, and despite injuries, numerous fixtures and extra time, illness in the camp we were able to come back for a well deserved draw. Perfect, obviously not, in trouble - definitely, the odd sign we may get out of this mess - I think so.

Whilst you make a very valid point, this game was a very viable 3 points. The majority of our remaining games not so much, that's were my major frustration comes from.

[martonrover]

1 hour ago, philipl said:

The game completely validated the point I made in the relegation thread.

Our fate depends on Szmodics keeping fit and getting the injured players back and keeping fit. JRC and Carter in particular will bring qualities we were sadly lacking last night.

Thankfully Pears being out didn't cost us last night although Pears would probably have stood up when facing that Millwall goal shot.

That Millwall side were certainly no better than us and in the dog eat dog world of 2 going down out of 11 in danger (I am calling being within 6 points of a relegation place as in danger given the way both the previous 22nd and 23rd teams have put back to back wins together as had Millwall) there are definitely at least 2 of those 11 with clearly worse squads than Rovers. 

Well Rotherham clearly have a worse squad, but they are out of the equation.

Beyond that, I'm not sure any of the clubs involved have a worse squad, and certainly doubt it.

Yes, Millwall were a bit negative last night, but they are on a decent little run of form, so an away point can be seen as a point gained.

I'd much rather be going to Ewood Park than the Den as an away team right now.

Our problems were there for all to see last night.

We look like an under 21 team with a few star guests. A total hotch potch.

You are definitely right about Szmodics, and I feared he may not have reappeared for the second half.

If it was any other player I don't think they would. 

He is being flogged to within an inch of his life, such is our dependency on him.

I think Pears is saving that shot for the goal.

Win on Saturday, (not confident), or I think we can forget it.

Edited March 6 by martonrover

[johnradfordsubbuteo2]

"Leo came in and I thought was very good tonight."

 

"He had very limited things to do, just the goal probably. I was happy with his distribution and keeping the back line up."

Talk about damning with faint praise. 

How about: "He had one thing to do and blew that."

A keeper devoid of confidence whom the defence visibly have no confidence in in return.

[Old Codger]

Lack of urgency. Lack of a coherent plan. Lack of leadership. Lack of quality in front of goal. Lack of concentration. Lack of energy. Lack of guile. Lack of a plan. Lack of pride in the shirt. Lack of options. Lack of concern. Lack of connection to the fans. Lack of action to put things right.

At this rate, we are going to need to be renamed as 'Lackburn Rovers' 😞

 

[martonrover]

4 minutes ago, Old Codger said:

Lack of urgency. Lack of a coherent plan. Lack of leadership. Lack of quality in front of goal. Lack of concentration. Lack of energy. Lack of guile. Lack of a plan. Lack of pride in the shirt. Lack of options. Lack of concern. Lack of connection to the fans. Lack of action to put things right.

At this rate, we are going to need to be renamed as 'Lackburn Rovers' 😞

 

Too many players who know they can walk away from the wreckage at the end of the season.

[arbitro]

7 minutes ago, johnradfordsubbuteo2 said:

"Leo came in and I thought was very good tonight."

 

"He had very limited things to do, just the goal probably. I was happy with his distribution and keeping the back line up."

Talk about damning with faint praise. 

How about: "He had one thing to do and blew that."

A keeper devoid of confidence whom the defence visibly have no confidence in in return.

What the hell does that mean?

[Penwortham Blue]

9 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

More walking football. Nobody is actually running on to the ball . We play in front of teams all the time and never get in up the sides. We play standing still stuff in little bunches, sooner or later we balls it up. it so easy for an opponent to nip in and steal the ball.

Great goal from Sammi, the goal of a man in top goal scoring form. No hesitation - bang - far corner. The lad is priceless.

I’ll have more to say tomorrow.
 

I watched Ipswich later. It was like they were playing another sport. Pace, high tempo, never say die attitude. Chalk and cheese.

On the way out last night, I was lamenting our pathetic record of grabbing something at the death and contrasted to Ipswich Town. Looked at my phone and they were losing with ten to go and once more turned it around with goals at the death. That is what tells you that a team has players fighting and believing, something we haven’t seen for a long time in the blue and white halves 😡

Edited March 6 by Penwortham Blue

[Old Codger]

Gallagher summed up last night for me - in dangerous positions several times, but far too slow to react, far too easy to knock off the ball, far too easy to out-muscle, and far too relaxed when it comes to doing his job (i.e. striker = score goals).

I can't imagine for one nanosecond that Speedie, Bellamy, Jansen, McCarthy, or that weird Geordie turncoat would have done anything other than smash the ball into the net in most of the positions Gally got himself into.

And as for all that passing the ball backwards and across the line instead of putting it into danger areas, REALLY? FFS, bash the fooking ball into their net. Simples.

Going down, going down, going down. 😞 FFS FFS FFS!! 

[tomphil]

16 hours ago, tomphil said:

Fully expecting these two coaches rather negative must not lose tactics to cancel each other out.  We fully need someone to pull something out the bag tonight to make the difference imo.

I'll be amazed if it doesn't finish 1-1 and see a sub 11k gate.

Well got the gate slightly wrong but the rest came to pass pretty much as expected.

We needed the keeper to perform above himself but one shot one goal, we needed Sammie to be Sammie and he was.

Beyond all that i do have a modicum of sympathy for Eustace we have to remember what hes walked into and all this talk of no wins, new gaffer bounce etc it doesn't surprise me whats happened.  First job for any guy coming in is tighten up at the back and make us harder to beat and hes done that. In such a limited squad that takes something away from the attacking side naturally and we have zero quality to unlock tight teams or score set pieces.

Last night you have the ropey rookie back in goal who you need to protect, a slow back line led by a 37 year old so that needs protecting tactics wise as well.  And a team come to park the bus with little intent to do anything other than protect the point so a difficult mix and nothing we haven't seen before at the business end of the season.

Eustace isn't a magician guys although taking short corners in 94th min with no intention was pathetic and deserved every moan it got. 

[Upside Down]

4 minutes ago, Penwortham Blue said:

On the way outlast night, I was lamenting our pathetic record of grabbing something at the death and contrasted to Ipswich Town. Looked at my phone and they were losing with ten to go and once more turned it around with goals at the death. That is what tells you that a team has players fighting and believing, something we haven’t seen for a long time in the blue and white halves 😡

Not since November 2010

[arbitro]

1 minute ago, Penwortham Blue said:

On the way outlast night, I was lamenting our pathetic record of grabbing something at the death and contrasted to Ipswich Town. Looked at my phone and they were losing with ten to go and once more turned it around with goals at the death. That is what tells you that a team has players fighting and believing, something we haven’t seen for a long time in the blue and white halves 😡

I can't think why on earth we would take a short corner in stoppage time when we have sent three centre halves up. The fact the corner was embarrassing just adds insult to injury. In fairness though we did a similar thing at Rotherham when we had come back from two down against the men.

It's infuriating and just shows a lack of understanding by some players.

One thing to give Eustace some credit for was that when Millwall had a corner late on we left two players up. I just wish it would happen more.

[broadsword]

49 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Szmodics....the shining light,the only one you feel gives a fook in what could be a truly disastrous season for this Club.

 

 

 

[philipl]

We are still deep in icky stick.

But I think some of the negatives are over done.

I will reiterate we are in the lap of the injury Gods. We shouldn't be but we are..

When I saw Leo starting my immediate reaction was Millwall shit houses were the last team I wanted to be facing but the reality they were neutralised for 90 minutes from putting Leo through the wringer. My guess is that protection contributed a lot to the perceived lack of urgency. There was a clear "don't lose the ball" instruction in operation after the Swansea debacle and we were good enough to reprise JDT ball and near 70% possession.

Leo was rolling it out far more than Pears has been doing.

People arguing there aren't at least two squads weaker than Rovers in the 11 clubs immediately above Rotherham haven't been taking much notice.

[K-Hod]

Watched the highlights this morning.

The defending for the goal we conceded is playground stuff. 3 of them put powderpuff challenges in and Leo lets it fly right past him.

Embarrassing.

[CambridgeRover]

4 minutes ago, philipl said:

People arguing there aren't at least two squads weaker than Rovers in the 11 clubs immediately above Rotherham haven't been taking much notice.

Taking notice of what?

[MarkBRFC]

Positives -

Sammie Szmodics

2 points at Ewood from losing positions in the last 10 days, more than the last 2 years combined!

Doubled our points tally over 22nd place.

Negatives - 

Everything else.

Edited March 6 by MarkBRFC

[RV Blue]

1 hour ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I am probably the only one seeing any positives from last night. Millwall had come to put 11 players behind the ball - they rarely threatened apart from set pieces - a perfect match for Rovers to lose to a sucker punch. But we didn't, and despite injuries, numerous fixtures and extra time, illness in the camp we were able to come back for a well deserved draw. Perfect, obviously not, in trouble - definitely, the odd sign we may get out of this mess - I think so.

So it’s a positive we got a point against a team who only came for a point? How do you work that out?

[RV Blue]

52 minutes ago, johnradfordsubbuteo2 said:

"Leo came in and I thought was very good tonight."

 

"He had very limited things to do, just the goal probably. I was happy with his distribution and keeping the back line up."

Talk about damning with faint praise. 

How about: "He had one thing to do and blew that."

A keeper devoid of confidence whom the defence visibly have no confidence in in return.

This guy is a muppet isn’t he, I’d honestly sack him now.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

1 hour ago, cesus said:

Whilst you make a very valid point, this game was a very viable 3 points. The majority of our remaining games not so much, that's were my major frustration comes from.

I agree we have, on paper, a frightening run in. However timing is everything in this league - with lots of matches divided by fine margins. Millwall is a good example - a few matches ago a very winnable fixture - last night was against a team who had just beaten Southampton and Watford.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

4 minutes ago, RV Blue said:

So it’s a positive we got a point against a team who only came for a point? How do you work that out?

I don't think they came for a point - and they nearly caught us with a sucker punch. Tactics we fall for time and time again

Edited March 6 by DavidMailsTightPerm

[Uddersfelt Blue]

We have to remember that we have a number of players still injured and some of the replacements just aren’t yet good enough for this level of football.

Particularly disappointing performances from both Dolan and Gallagher who just don’t seem to be able to perform on a consistent basis. Dolan scores 2 against Stoke and nothing since. Gallagher against Preston but again nothing since. Maybe they aren’t getting the service but as regular strikers we should expect a better return. 
 

We desperately need Hedges, Tronstad and JRC  (and Carter) back fully fit. Hopefully Brittain’s injury is not too bad. 

[DaveyB]

4 hours ago, lraC said:

Arbitro has posted that Pears is out on Saturday too. We should still beat Plymouth without him, although I won’t be putting any money on that. 

Not saying he’s wrong, but, according to the club’s official twitter, Pears missed out with illness rather than injury, so surely it’s too soon to know whether he will be back or not (unless it’s something much more serious than a fever/vomiting bug)

[benhben]

Draws at home to Milwall when you're barely above the drop zone just aren't good enough at this stage of the season. 

Sadly I don't think there is much hunger in the squad to put a shift in and the new manager hasn't exactly got them motivated. Worrying times and the future looks bleak.

[sharpysharps86]

3 minutes ago, DaveyB said:

Not saying he’s wrong, but, according to the club’s official twitter, Pears missed out with illness rather than injury, so surely it’s too soon to know whether he will be back or not (unless it’s something much more serious than a fever/vomiting bug)

I wouldn't trust this club to tell us the truth on anything these days.